Prison Coffee and the considerate capitalist
- Unfiltered
- Jan 27, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 11, 2019
By Ben Malandrinos
Max Dubiel sits opposite me on an icy Monday afternoon in Bloomsbury, London. His back straight as an arrow and a slight inkling of a German accent in his eloquently spoken English. Young and clearly successful, he holds an air of superiority that is becoming rather than arrogant. As we sit outside the café he owns, Max starts to tell me what I think to be the awfully predictable story of a city worker quitting his job to find something more ‘meaningful’.
Upon first glance, the café looks like any other minimalist Scandinavian styled coffee bar that has become the norm in London’s café scene. But look closer and you will notice that this enterprise offers something different. Behind its stylish facade, this café represents a world of opportunity to young offenders. It all starts with Max’s not so predictable story, and indeed his not so predictable coffee.
Max graduated from St Andrew’s College in 2010 with a Masters degree in International Relations and Management. Two years working as a technology consultant left him wanting more and with very little knowledge of the industry, he and a few college friends left their city jobs to enter the world of coffee. They started Black Sheep Coffee in 2013 which included the roasting and wholesale of coffee beans as well as the retail side of the business with their cafes. After a couple of years, experience in the trade Max left Black Sheep Coffee and started his own wholesale business with current partner Ted Rosner.
Max and Ted were first contacted by the Ministry of Justice in 2015 with the idea of starting a barista training course for young offenders, in the hope to curb the terrible reoffending statistics in the UK. The bureaucracy in dealing with a ministry was daunting at first but Max and Ted took a bold stance in offering a counter deal. Max’s ambition was to not only set up a barista training academy but to start roasting their coffee inside prison as well, while at the same time teaching the prisoners professional roasting skills. “I think the moment we realised this project actually had legs was seeing the motivation and drive of the people who we started speaking to at Aylesbury Prison,” says Max.
HM Aylesbury Prison is a young offenders institution for male prisoners aged between 17 and 21 serving long sentences, and as Max puts it: “a rough place.” Young offenders are notoriously difficult to deal with and according to the Ministry of Justice, juvenile offenders have a proven reoffending rate of over 40 per cent. Max notes that released prisoners with valuable skills and job opportunities are far less likely to re-offend, this is where Redemption Roasters comes in.
The Ministry of Justice accepted their counter-proposal and in April 2017 Redemption Roasters was born. A world first for the coffee industry and a business that relies heavily on social impact. Max explains that “ultimately we’re still a limited company, we still have shareholders and we’re still profit driven of course but being ‘profit for purpose’ is a different kettle of fish and not only are you scrutinised on your financial performance, but you’re scrutinised on your social impact as well, and that makes it different but exciting at the same time.”
It is clear to see his genuine intent. Bright eyed and full of enthusiasm Max explains to me how he’s managed to grow his business around the idea of social impact while still maintaining a profitable model. Even though rental premiums and export costs from the prison are high, the resource potential of released prisoners who are passionate about coffee is limitless for his cafés and roastery. Redemption Roasters rents the space inside the prison and pays the Ministry of Justice for each bag of coffee roasted. The prisoners are compensated by the ministry for their work and are taught competitive level barista skills and professional roasting techniques. There is an industrial-sized coffee roastery within the prison walls and a barista academy which doubles as a working café. Redemption Roasters helps prisoners that have been through their program to find jobs or employs them at one of their three cafés in central London. Max emphasises the fact that their behaviour in prison and willingness to learn usually trumps their crime when it comes to being enrolled in the Redemption Roasters program.
Asking Max about the ethical implications of using prisoners to roast and make coffee he quickly thwarts the idea of exploitation, and I am given no reason to doubt him. With a fixed gaze he tells me: “If we wanted to rip the social impact element out of our business, we would start a roastery in Brixton tomorrow and it would be a lot cheaper from any perspective, but it’s the one part of our company that is non-negotiable. It’s the premise we’re built on.”
In a world where humanity is often far removed from commerce, Max exemplifies what we need from future entrepreneurs. Redemption Roasters’ success is a testament to an educated approach to business and with a fourth café opening in Broadgate Circus in March 2019 this altruistic business and Max’s refreshing assertiveness continues to succeed.
You can also find him on LinkedIn
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